Danni froze as the mental whisper echoed through her head. Well, she had to give Nocturne some credit; that was definitely the worst thing that could possibly happen. Against her better judgment, she turned slowly.
Whatever power Nocturne wielded had granted Silver her life back, along with her missing left hand. Since the insane psychic was long dead, this couldn't be the real one. Sadly, Danni had a feeling that wouldn't make her any less dangerous.
"How did you get here?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Does it matter?" Silver replied, smiling. "I'm here. You're here. Let's...play..."
Danni lunged out of the way as a bullet tore through the air and the shattered the sink. "You're not real!" she yelled, becoming her alter ego. "Silver's dead!"
To her surprise, her opponent nodded. "Perceptive niño. I'm not Silver. And yet, I am."
"What does that mean?"
The not-Silver shrugged and resumed fire, forcing the girl to become intangible. Danni returned with a series of ectoplasmic energy blasts that her enemy ducked around the corner to avoid.
I'm just waiting, the doppelganger whispered. The kitchen furniture floated into the air and sailed through the girl's incorporeal form. I don't like this game. I want to play my game again.
Danni phased through the wall and knocked his adversary to the ground. "What do you mean?" she demanded, holding the woman's wrist against the ground. "What are you talking about?"
"I could get used to this..."
"Answer me!"
I'm a bad idea, a failed creation. I wasn't supposed to be what I was, but I was always too mad to control. My name is Insanity.
Suddenly, an invisible hand grabbed the girl. She struggled, but it threw her over Insanity's head and pinned her to the floor. She looked up, overcome by an unreasonable amount of terror. It took all her concentration to fight off the desire to give up and wail...
Wait.
Danni grinned as the silver gun barrel lined up with the middle of her forehead. Insanity tilted her head, half pleased and half cautious. Your death amuses you, amante?
"Nope," she replied brightly. "This does." And with that, she screamed. While the Ghostly Wail was somewhat more shrill in her altered voice, it was no less effective. Insanity's telekinetic hold was broken as she was flung across the room. The ghost girl immediately broke off her attack before it could weaken her and flew, fists first, into her opponent.
Insanity coughed weakly and pulled herself to her feet. I forgot how much fun it was to fight you, she whispered, almost nostalgically.
Danni shook her head, growing even more confused by the moment. Was it Silver or not? She looked like Silver; she talked like Silver; she had the same powers as Silver. She called herself Insanity, but she acted like Silver. "What is going on here?" she yelled, frustrated.
Suddenly, Insanity cringed and vanished. She heard a not-very-polite exclamation from somewhere near the kitchen and turned quickly to see Nocturne, held against the wall by an invisible force. Facing her and tapping one foot impatiently, was the real Elegy, at last.
"I turn my back for two minutes..." she said, aggravation clear in her voice. "That," she gestured in Danni's general vicinity, "was going way too far!"
"Oh, waa!" Nocturne replied. She grinned impishly. "You're the one that said, 'Have fun'."
"What?" Danni exclaimed, feeling very betrayed.
Elegy cringed. "Didn't I freeze him?" Her twin lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, right. Fiona, get out of there!"
She staggered back but managed to keep her feet that time as the amorphous entity reappeared in front of...
Him! Again! At last! His joy was extremely short-lived as he realized exactly what had just happened. "You...I..." he stammered. The knowledge that Fiona had been inside him the whole time only brought two words to mind. "No! Ew!"
Nocturne dropped to the floor, howling with laughter. Fiona returned to her usual form and grinned hesitantly. She started to speak, then noticed that she was in real, imminent, life-threatening danger, and fled to the safety of Elegy, who was staring with great interest at her feet.
"And now you know what everyone else feels like when you overshadow them," Nocturne pointed out.
Danny ignored her. "You could have stopped this at any time!" he yelled at Elegy. "And you just let them do this to me?"
"Are you insane? She was laughing along with the rest of us!"
Elegy, who had become a shade of red that didn't exist in the visible spectrum, hissed, "Shut...up..." She smiled in unconscious mimicry of Fiona's nervous grin as she addressed the ghost boy. "Uh...one d-day you look back and...uh...laugh?"
"No!" Danny replied. "How could you do this?"
She stuttered and stammered until Nocturne came to her rescue. "What inarticulate here is trying to say is that crap happens. Get over it."
"No, it's not!" Elegy huffed slightly and looked at her two companions. "This is confusing, now. Both of you go away." Nocturne shrugged and, taking a protesting Fiona by the ear, vanished. "I apologize for my counterpart. I let her take over watching your world while I was otherwise occupied with the one I actually own and..." She trailed off and glanced up slightly.
Danny folded his arms and glared. While he was grateful to be able to use that particular noun again, he couldn't help but think that none of it would have happened if not the woman before him.
Elegy returned his glare with one of her own. "You know, I could just make you forget this whole thing ever happened. Instead, I'm taking the time to explain and a-an-aplo...ah...bleh..." She broke off with a frustrated growl and earned the tiniest smile from the boy.
"Fine," he sighed, relaxing slightly. "But why? What was the point?
"Originally, it was to make you find out what it's like to be a girl. I think the lesson got lost somewhere in Nocturne's...ah..." She cleared her throat and continued at a slower pace, "...Overzealous love of interesting forms of torture."
The boy sighed. He wasn't too sure about interesting, but it had definitely been torture. "Okay. What about Insanity?"
"She's a little like Contrivance, only she belongs to Nocturne. And she's completely uncon-un-on...un...con...trollable."
"But is she Silver?" Danny persisted. He sighed with relief when the woman shook her head.
"In a sense, she was because Nocturne asked her to be. But no. She was not the real Silver. And...?"
They stared at each other for a few minutes. The boy knew she knew he was wondering about Kat and was waiting for him to ask. By the look in her eyes, she was hoping he would not. At last, he sighed and relaxed the rest of the way. "That was still a rotten thing to let her do."
"And I cannot apologize enough!" Elegy reiterated emphatically. "If there is anything at all I can do to make it up to you, consider it d...uh...d-d…" She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Done."
Danny thought for a moment, then grinned evilly. "Well, there is one thing..."
A/N: I'm sorry! /shields self/ Like Nocturne says, I couldn't resist any longer. By the way, for those you who are wondering, no. I don't have a twin sister, or a split personality. Nocturne is pure ego personified. Okay, now for the epilogue.
